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Aviation glossary

Firm order and option

Also: firm order, purchase option, purchase right, aircraft order

Airlines and business

Ways in which an airline or lessor orders aircraft: a firm order is a binding contract, while an option reserves a delivery slot that can be confirmed later.

What it is

A firm order is backed by a purchase agreement and usually involves pre-delivery payments made as the delivery date approaches. Options reserve production slots at an agreed price and timescale, and the customer can convert them into firm orders before a deadline; purchase rights are looser still, with no guaranteed delivery slot.

Announcements at air shows such as Farnborough and Paris often mix all three categories, and not all of them materialise: a memorandum of understanding or letter of intent is not yet a firm order. That is why manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing publish monthly order and delivery figures that count only firm commitments, with cancellations and conversions to other models reflected in those totals.

On Vuelopedia

Airbus Boeing

Related terms

Order backlogThe aircraft firmly ordered from a manufacturer but not yet delivered; it shows how many years of production lie ahead. Launch customerFirst airline or operator to order a new aircraft model in sufficient numbers for the manufacturer to commit to launching the programme. DeliveryThe handover of a new aircraft from its manufacturer to the customer, an airline or a lessor, after acceptance checks and final payment. LessorCompany that owns aircraft and rents them out to airlines for years at a time in return for regular payments, without operating them itself.
Whole glossary

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Firm order and option. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option

MLA

“Firm order and option.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Firm order and option.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Firm order and option. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_firm_order_and_option,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Firm order and option}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/firm-order-and-option |title=Firm order and option |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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